1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a voice recognition method and apparatus in a digital portable telephone and, more particularly, to a method and apparatus for managing voice registration entries of a voice recognition apparatus for use in both a handset and a hands-free kit.
2. Description of the Related Art
In general, a voice recognition apparatus extracts features such as a frequency feature from an input voice signal to recognize the input voice. Typically, the voice recognition apparatus has a large number of voice signals to process, which may overload a microprocessor associated with the voice recognition apparatus. Hence, in a known voice recognition method for use with a portable telephone, a hands-free kit having a voice recognition function is provided. The voice recognition apparatus of the hands-free kit recognizes the voice signal associated with a telephone number that the user utters, and outputs the voice recognition results to the portable telephone (i.e., handset). Then, the handset dials the telephone number according to the voice recognition results received from the hands-free kit.
Since the voice recognition apparatus has a large number of voice signals to process and, as a result, can be rather large in size, it is difficult to install the voice recognition apparatus directly in a portable telephone. Further, unless the voice recognition apparatus can guarantee fast processing, the voice recognition apparatus may actually obstruct operation of the portable telephone.
In order to employ a voice recognition function in a hands-free kit, the hands-free kit requires, among other components, a digital signal processor (DSP). Also, a nonvolatile memory such as an EEPROM (Electrically Erasable and Programmable Read Only Memory) is necessary. However, if the voice recognition apparatus is installed only in the hands-free kit, the voice recognition function can only be implemented through the hands-free kit. Thus, when separated from the hands-free kit, the portable telephone cannot perform a voice recognition function itself.
It is known that a typical portable telephone includes a vocoder. The problems mentioned above may be solved, if the portable telephone recognizes a voice using a packet data output from the vocoder. In this case, the digital portable telephone employing a vocoder may therefore include voice recognition apparatus. Thus, the digital portable telephone including the voice recognition apparatus, and having a hands-free kit associated therewith, can register and recognize the voices input from either the handset or the hands-free kit. However, in consideration of the different characteristics of microphones and audio amplifiers included respectively in the handset and the hands-free kit, the voice signals for the same words input respectively through the handset and the hands-free kit should be registered separately. That is to say, though the same word is uttered by the same person, the voice signal input through the handset may be different form the voice signal input through the hands-free kit, because of the different characteristics of the microphones and the audio amplifiers included respectively in the handset and the hands-free kit. Therefore, even though the same information is uttered by the same person, the respective voice recognition apparatus may recognize the voice signals, which are input through the handset and the hands-free kit, differently. That is, the respective voice recognition processes performed by the handset and the hands-free kit may yield different results.
Therefore, the voice recognition apparatus should separately register the same voices input through the handset and the hands-free kit, respectively. Further, it is necessary to maintain the same voice registration entries for the handset and the hands-free kit.
It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide a method and apparatus for managing voice registration entries such that a voice registration entry for a handset coincides with a voice registration entry for a hands-free kit.
To achieve the above and other objects, one aspect of the present invention provides a method for managing voice registration entries of a voice recognition apparatus for use in both a handset and a hands-free kit. In the method, it is determined whether the handset is set to a hands-free mode where the handset is mounted on a cradle, thus connecting with the hands-free kit. If the handset is set to the hands-free mode, a voice registration entry for the handset is compared with a voice registration entry for the hands-free kit to count the number difference of entries therebetween. A voice recognition process is performed, if the number difference is a minimum value, e.g., substantially zero. If the number difference is larger than the minimum value, then a voice entry is registered for the hands-free kit, in response to a user confirmation. If the entry difference is smaller than the minimum value, then a voice entry is registered for the handset, in response to a user confirmation.
These and other objects, features and advantages of the present invention will become apparent from the following detailed description of illustrative embodiments thereof, which is to be read in connection with the accompanying drawings in which the same reference numerals are used throughout the various figures to designate same or similar components.